Top 7 'Hardware-Store-Hacks' to Organize the Trickiest Spots in Your Home on a Budget - Goh Ling Yong
We’ve all been there. That one cabinet under the sink that feels like a black hole for cleaning supplies. The garage wall where tools seem to multiply and tangle themselves overnight. Or that notoriously messy junk drawer that holds everything and nothing of importance all at once. These tricky spots are the final frontiers of home organization, the areas that often get ignored because standard storage solutions just don't seem to cut it. They’re awkwardly shaped, overstuffed, and a constant source of low-grade frustration.
The good news? The solution isn't hidden in an expensive container store. It’s waiting for you in the aisles of your local hardware store. For years, I've believed that the most innovative solutions often come from looking at everyday items in a new way. Here on the Goh Ling Yong blog, we're all about smart, practical fixes, and this is where the magic truly happens. By thinking like a builder, a plumber, or a craftsman, you can unlock a world of incredibly effective and surprisingly cheap organizational tools.
Forget flimsy plastic bins and overpriced drawer dividers. It’s time to grab your shopping list and venture into a world of PVC pipes, rain gutters, and steel plates. Get ready to tackle those clutter-magnets head-on with these seven game-changing hardware store hacks that will bring order to the most chaotic corners of your home—all without breaking the bank.
1. The Pegboard: Your Wall's New Best Friend
If you think pegboard is just for dusty workshops, think again. This perforated hardboard is arguably the most versatile and cost-effective vertical storage solution on the market. Its true genius lies in its modularity; with an endless variety of hooks, baskets, shelves, and clips, you can customize a pegboard to hold just about anything, transforming a blank, useless wall into a powerhouse of organization.
The key is to think beyond the garage. In the kitchen, a pegboard backsplash can keep utensils, small pans, and spice racks off your valuable counter space. Inside a pantry or cabinet door, it’s a perfect spot for hanging measuring cups, oven mitts, and cutting boards. For craft rooms or home offices, it’s a lifesaver, providing a designated spot for scissors, ribbon spools, wrapping paper, and all the little supplies that would otherwise clutter your desk.
Pro-Tips:
- Paint it! Don't settle for the standard brown hardboard. A coat of paint can turn your pegboard into a stylish accent wall. Match it to your wall colour for a subtle, built-in look, or use a bold, contrasting colour to make it a feature.
- Frame it out. For a more polished look, add a simple wooden frame around the edges of your pegboard before mounting it.
- Trace your tools. For items that have a permanent home (like tools in the garage or specific kitchen utensils), trace their outline on the pegboard with a marker. It makes it instantly clear where everything goes, encouraging everyone in the family to put things back properly.
2. PVC Pipe Perfection: Custom Cubbies on Demand
Wander into the plumbing aisle and you'll find a secret weapon for taming drawer chaos: PVC pipes. These inexpensive plastic tubes come in a huge range of diameters, making them perfect for creating custom-sized cubbies for all sorts of small, unruly items. A simple pipe cutter (or even a hand saw) is all you need to slice them into the perfect height for your drawers.
Imagine your "junk drawer" finally tamed, with neat sections for charging cables, pens, and batteries. Or consider the bathroom vanity drawer, where short lengths of 2- or 3-inch pipe can neatly corral makeup brushes, toothpaste, and hair ties. This hack is also fantastic for closets, where larger diameter pipes can be used to organize scarves, belts, or even pairs of shoes. The uniform, circular compartments prevent everything from becoming a tangled mess.
Pro-Tips:
- Glue them together. For a more permanent and stable drawer insert, use a strong adhesive like E6000 or a hot glue gun to connect the individual pipe sections into a honeycomb pattern before placing them in the drawer.
- Create a hair tool holder. Mount a PVC "Y" connector or a few short pieces of wider pipe to the inside of a cabinet door. It creates the perfect heat-safe holster for your hairdryer, curling iron, and flat iron, keeping them untangled and off the counter.
- Under-sink storage. Secure a few sections of PVC pipe to the back wall under your sink to store extra rolls of trash bags or cleaning cloths.
3. Tension Rod Triumph: The "No-Drill" Wonder
Tension rods are the unsung heroes of small-space organization. These spring-loaded rods require no screws, no drills, and no permanent damage, making them perfect for renters or anyone hesitant to put holes in their walls or cabinets. While commonly used for shower curtains, their true potential is unlocked when you start thinking smaller.
The most popular application is under the kitchen or bathroom sink. Install a tension rod horizontally near the top of the cabinet and hang all your spray bottles from it by their triggers. This simple move instantly frees up the entire floor of the cabinet for stacking bins or other supplies. You can also use them vertically in deep cabinets to act as dividers for pot lids, baking sheets, or cutting boards, stopping that dreaded avalanche every time you reach for one.
Pro-Tips:
- Double up for shoe storage. In a closet, install two tension rods parallel to each other—one a few inches higher and further back than the other—to create a clever, space-saving rack for your heeled shoes.
- Tame the wrapping paper. Use tension rods to store rolls of wrapping paper vertically in a tall, narrow closet.
- Craft ribbon dispenser. In a craft room, stack several tension rods in a cubby or between two shelves to create a simple and effective ribbon dispenser.
4. Magnetic Strip Magic: Beyond the Kitchen Knives
Those magnetic knife strips you see in restaurant kitchens are a fantastic tool for getting metal items up, off the counter, and in plain sight. Their powerful magnetic hold is good for far more than just cutlery. By installing these sleek strips in unexpected places, you can solve dozens of tiny, annoying storage problems.
In the bathroom, a magnetic strip mounted near the mirror is the perfect home for bobby pins, tweezers, nail clippers, and small scissors. No more digging through a messy drawer for your grooming essentials! In the home office, use one to keep paper clips, binder clips, and scissors within easy reach. And in the garage or workshop, they are an absolute must-have for organizing drill bits, wrenches, and screwdrivers, keeping your most-used tools visible and accessible.
Pro-Tips:
- Toy car garage. Mount a few magnetic strips at a child-friendly height in a playroom to create a fun and organized "parking garage" for toy cars.
- Spice organization. If your spices are in metal tins, a magnetic strip on the side of your refrigerator or inside a cabinet door makes for a great space-saving spice rack.
- Makeup station. Many makeup pans are made of metal (or you can glue a small magnet to the bottom). A magnetic strip can be part of a larger magnetic makeup board to keep your favorite eyeshadows and blushes organized.
5. Gutter Shelving Genius: The Perfect Display Ledge
This might sound strange, but your best bet for children's book storage might be in the roofing aisle. Vinyl rain gutters are lightweight, incredibly cheap, and have a lipped edge that makes them the ideal ledge for forward-facing book displays. Unlike traditional bookshelves that only show the spine, gutter shelves let kids see the colourful covers, making them far more likely to grab a book and start reading.
Because they are so light, they can be easily mounted on almost any wall. Install a few rows at a low height in a child's bedroom or playroom to create an accessible library. But their use doesn't stop there. In a craft room, they are perfect for organizing spools of ribbon or bottles of paint. In a pantry or kitchen, their narrow profile makes them a great solution for displaying your collection of spices or small condiments. This is a hack I've shared in my Goh Ling Yong home-styling sessions before, and it's always a crowd-pleaser for its simplicity and impact.
Pro-Tips:
- Don't forget the end caps. For a clean, finished look and to prevent items from sliding off the ends, be sure to purchase the matching end caps for your gutters.
- Cut to size. A simple hacksaw is all you need to cut the vinyl gutters to the exact length you need for your space.
- Think beyond books. Use gutter shelves in a home office to display magazines or important files, or in the garage to hold cans of spray paint and lubricants.
6. The Mighty French Cleat: Heavy-Duty, Modular Freedom
For those who need a seriously robust and flexible storage system, especially in a garage or workshop, the French cleat is the ultimate DIY solution. This clever system consists of two interlocking pieces of wood (typically plywood or a 1x4 board) cut at a 45-degree angle. One cleat is mounted securely to the wall, and the other is attached to whatever you want to hang—a cabinet, a shelf, a tool holder, you name it.
The beauty of the French cleat is its incredible strength and modularity. You can hang heavy cabinets and tool chests without fear. Better yet, because the items aren't permanently screwed to the wall, you can lift them off and rearrange your entire storage system whenever your needs change. You can create an entire wall of cleats and build custom holders for every tool, bin, and piece of equipment you own, ensuring everything has a place and your workspace remains clear.
Pro-Tips:
- Plan your layout. A French cleat system works best when you cover a large wall section, giving you maximum flexibility to move items around.
- Build custom holders. The real power comes from creating bespoke holders for your items. Build small boxes for screws, angled shelves for drills, or simple blocks with holes for screwdrivers, all with a matching cleat on the back.
- Use it indoors, too. A French cleat can be used to hang heavy mirrors, headboards, or even floating desks and media consoles for a clean, hardware-free look.
7. Chain and S-Hooks: The Vertical Closet Multiplier
Is your closet rod packed so tightly you can barely slide a hanger? The solution is to think vertically, and the simplest way to do that is with a basic length of chain and a pack of S-hooks. This low-cost combination allows you to "daisy chain" your clothes, effectively multiplying the amount of storage you can get from a single foot of closet space.
Simply hang a length of chain from your closet rod. Then, using S-hooks, you can hang multiple hangers down the length of the chain. This is a brilliant strategy for grouping entire outfits together, making morning routines a breeze. It’s also incredibly effective for storing categories of clothing that tend to take up a lot of horizontal space, like tank tops, scarves, belts, or even handbags.
Pro-Tips:
- Choose the right chain. For clothing, a lightweight, decorative chain is all you need. For heavier items in the garage (like extension cords or tools), opt for a sturdier, utility-grade chain.
- Go beyond the closet. This same system works wonders in the kitchen for hanging pots, pans, and utensils from a ceiling rack. In the garage, it’s a great way to get bikes, ladders, and garden tools up off the floor.
- Colour-code your S-hooks. For an extra layer of organization, use different coloured S-hooks or a dab of nail polish to colour-code items for different seasons or occasions.
The next time you're faced with a stubborn clutter spot, I challenge you to skip the typical home goods store and take a stroll through your local hardware depot instead. With a little creativity, you’ll find that the aisles are brimming with potential. Organizing your home doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated; it just requires looking at things from a new angle.
Now it's your turn. What's the most creative hardware store hack you've ever used to organize a tricky spot in your home? Share your genius ideas and DIY victories in the comments below—we can all learn from each other
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
Stay updated with the latest posts and insights by following on your favorite platform!